RHS Team Wins Regional Academic Olympics

April 8, 2016

A five-person team of Rugby High School students were top dogs in an academic competition.

The Rugby team comprises seniors Rebekah Wangler and Tyler Schmaltz and juniors Thor Skjelver, Annie Bachmeier and Sara Bourne, and competed against Bottineau, Velva and St. John in the Region 2 Academic Olympics last week in Bottineau. The four schools were part of the Large School Division, or schools with more than 100 students in grades 9-12.

The team was coached by Rugby High School social studies instructor Brian Olson.

Article Photos

A team of Rugby High School students will travel to Bismarck April 18 to compete at the state Academic Olympics. Pictured (left to right): Tyler Schmaltz, Rebekah Wangler, Thor Skjelver, Sara Bourne and Annie Bachmeier. Not pictured: coach Brian Olson. (Ashley Berg/PCT)

The Academic Olympics is a competition that consists of two rounds. In the first round, all teams are given 30 seconds to answer a question from a specific academic category- including math, science, English, social studies and current events. There are 30 questions in the round, and the top three teams advance to the next round. Round 2 consists of 25 questions and uses a buzzer system. The first team to buzz in and answer correctly wins points, and teams lose points for incorrect answers.

Seven small schools competed in the tournament, with McClusky winning that division. Rugby and McClusky advance to the state tournament, which will be held on April 18 on the Bismarck State College campus.